Reuters reports that US prosecutors have indicted and seek the extradition of Aarhus University, Denmark’s MMR/mercury & autism researcher Poul Thorsen 49, on 13 counts of wire fraud and nine counts of money laundering. This relates to monies paid to Thorsen by the US Centers for Disease Control including for research into the relationship between autism and exposure to vaccines. Thorsen used the stolen money to buy a home in Atlanta, a Harley Davidson motorcycle and two cars, prosecutors said.

What Did Thorsen Do?

Thorsen was a visiting researcher at the Atlanta-based CDC in the 1990s who obtained US$11m in research grants for two Danish government agencies. Thorsen was in charge of administering the research funds to study the relationship between autism and exposure to vaccines. It is alleged Thorsen submitted false invoices and arranged for Aarhus University where he was employed to transfer the funds to his personal account at the CDC Federal Credit Union in Atlanta. It is said the university thought it was transferring the funds to a CDC account.

Thorsen’s Questionable Research

Thorsen was an author of the now notorious US CDC funded New England Journal of Medicine Madsen study of 500,000 Danish children which was used worldwide to claim there was no relationship between MMR vaccine and autistic conditions. Thorsen was also involved in publishing studies claiming there was no link between the mercury additive thiomersal in vaccines, autistic conditions and developmental disorders in children.

According to US vaccine safety organisation Safeminds some of the research Thorsen engaged in, substantial numbers of diagnosed autism cases disappeared annually from the data Thorsen and colleagues relied on. Thorsen engaged in email correspondence with the US Centers for Disease Control about how to produce results which showed a more favourable safety profile for vaccines. SafeMinds is calling for an independent federal investigation of these studies for data manipulation and scientific misconduct.

From August to October of 2003, three articles on the autism-mercury controversy were published in close succession, all of which used data from a Danish registry for psychiatric research to assess the relationship between autism trends and the use of thimerosal. SafeMinds accessed the registry at the time and reported that a large percentage of diagnosed autism cases are lost from the Danish registry each year and that most of those lost cases were older children. Since the studies were based on finding fewer older thimerosal-exposed children than younger unexposed children, the validity of their conclusion exonerating thimerosal in autism was questionable and likely a result of missing records rather than true lower incidence rates among the exposed group.

A top CDC official complied with the request sending a letter to the editor of the journal supporting the publication of the study which they called a “strong piece of evidence that thimerosal is not linked to autism.”

Further background information on these studies, the charges against Dr. Thorsen, and documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act that support SafeMinds’ concerns are available on their website, www.safeminds.org.

Similarities to the Professor Christopher Gillberg Scandal

The Thorsen affair has undertones of the Gillberg scandal. [NB. The “editors” of Wikipedia medical topics have ensured the following historical data is not readily available to readers.]

Swedish psychiatrist and autism researcher Professor Christoper Gillberg was a scientific board member of US organisation Cure Autism Now, a professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at Gothenburg University in Gothenburg, Sweden, and an honorary professor at the Institute of Child Health (ICH), University College London. He was a member of and advised numerous boards responsible for providing research funding.

Gillberg destroyed 100,000 pages of research material filling 22 metres of shelf space on a 25 year study when ordered by a Swedish Court to make it available for scrutiny in the light of suspected fraudulent scientific research. The study was a 25-year follow-up of 42 children diagnosed as having a condition invented by Gillberg called “DAMP” [Deficits in attention, motor control and perception]. DAMP was roundly criticised by English psychiatrist Professor Michael Rutter in expert Court evidence. Gillberg was already notorious for admitting privately his children had not been vaccinated, while declaring no link between vaccines and autism.

On the basis of this study, 3,000 Swedish children were prescribed amphetamines (Ritalin) and Gillberg and his colleagues argued that another 70,000 children were in need of it. Amphetamines can have serious adverse effects.

Leif Elinder, a paediatrician in Uppsala and Eva Kärfve, a sociologist at the University of Lund identified unusual features of Gillberg’s study including:

Nearly all the patients were recorded as attending during the study for comprehensive examinations but received no diagnosis or treatment;

the dropout rate of the study [3 out of 42] was very low, when expected to be high in such a study covering 25 years;

the number of participants appeared to have increased over the course of the study;

DAMP, like autism, affects far more boys than girls. However, while more than half of the control group consisted of girls, most of whom came from stable families and prosperous homes, 75% of the DAMP children were boys from dysfunctional families in run-down areas with poor housing;

Details of papers published by Poul Thorsen can be found with the following Google search.

[PDF] from safeminds.org…, D Schendel, J Wohlfahrt, P Thorsen… – New England Journal …, 2002 – nejm.org
We conducted a retrospective cohort study of all children born in Denmark from January 1991
through December 1998. The cohort was selected on the basis of data from the Danish Civil
Registration System, which assigns a unique identification number to every live-born …Cited by 383 – Related articles – BL Direct – All 26 versions

[HTML] from oxfordjournals.org…, E Agerbo, D Schendel, P Thorsen… – American Journal of …, 2005 – Oxford Univ Press
Research suggests that heredity and early fetal development play a causal role in autism. This
case-control study explored the association between perinatal factors, parental psychiatric
history, socioeconomic status, and risk of autism. The study was nested within a cohort of …Cited by 182 – Related articles – All 15 versions

[PDF] from pkids.org…, MB Lauritsen, CB Pedersen, P Thorsen… – Pediatrics, 2003 – Am Acad Pediatrics
Objective. It has been suggested that thimerosal, a mercury-containing preservative in
vaccines, is a risk factor for the development of autism. We examined whether discontinuing
the use of thimerosal-containing vaccines in Denmark led to a decrease in the incidence …Cited by 148 – Related articles – BL Direct – All 33 versions

P Thorsen, IP Jensen, B Jeune, N Ebbesen… – American journal of …, 1998 – Elsevier
Attempts to identify infections in the lower genital tract in women as one of the causes of pathologic
pregnancy outcome have been made throughout several decades. Recently, efforts have been
concentrated on the condition of BV as described by Amsel et al. 5 The diagnostic criteria …Cited by 97 – Related articles – BL Direct – All 4 versions

…, A Schuchat, P Thorsen – Mental retardation and …, 2002 – Wiley Online Library
Cerebral palsy is the most common neuromotor developmental dis- ability of childhood, affecting
as many as 8,000 to 12,000 children born in the US each year (corresponding to a prevalence
rate of between 2 and 3 per 1000 children). Recent improvements in neonatal care have …Cited by 42 – Related articles – BL Direct – All 3 versions

…, S Dalsgaard, PH Thomsen, P Thorsen – Archives of Pediatrics …, 2007 – Am Med Assoc
You are seeing this message because your Web browser does not support basic Web
standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing and what you can do to make
your experience on this site better. … Add to CiteULike Add to Connotea Add to …Cited by 33 – Related articles – BL Direct – All 5 versions

…, B Jacobsson, C Svaerke, P Thorsen – Archives of Pediatrics …, 2009 – Am Med Assoc
You are seeing this message because your Web browser does not support basic Web
standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing and what you can do to make
your experience on this site better. … Add to CiteULike Add to Connotea Add to …Cited by 26 – Related articles – All 6 versions

M Kaivola, P Thorsen… – Physical Review A, 1985 – APS
Dispersive line shapes have been observed in the population of the intermediate level of a
three-level Λ configuration in a fast beam of metastable 40 Ca * atoms. A steady-state calculation
in the weak-probe approximation is used to identify the main physical processes in the …Cited by 24 – Related articles – All 5 versions

MJ Silverberg, P Thorsen, H Lindeberg… – … – Head and Neck …, 2004 – Am Med Assoc
You are seeing this message because your Web browser does not support basic Web
standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing and what you can do to make
your experience on this site better. … Add to CiteULike Add to Connotea Add to …Cited by 23 – Related articles – BL Direct – All 3 versions

DR Velez, R Menon, P Thorsen… – Annals of Human …, 2007 – Wiley Online Library
Preterm birth (PTB) is a significant neonatal health problem that is more common in African-Americans
(AA) than in European-Americans (EA). Part of this disparity is likely to result from the differing
genetic architectures of EA and AA. To begin assessing the role of these differences, …Cited by 19 – Related articles – BL Direct – All 2 versions

HO Atladottir, MG Pedersen, P Thorsen… – Pediatrics, 2009 – Am Acad Pediatrics
METHODS: The study cohort consisted of all of the children born in Denmark from 1993 through
2004 (689 196 children). Outcome data consisted of both inpatient and outpatient diagnoses
reported to the Danish National Psychiatric Registry. Information on ADs in parents and …Cited by 17 – Related articles – All 6 versions

…, DE Schendel, P Thorsen – Archives of Pediatrics and …, 2008 – Am Med Assoc
You are seeing this message because your Web browser does not support basic Web
standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing and what you can do to make
your experience on this site better. … Add to CiteULike Add to Connotea Add to …Cited by 14 – Related articles – All 4 versions

[PDF] from uniklinikum-jena.deK Skogstrand, CK Ekelund, P Thorsen… – Journal of …, 2008 – Elsevier
The interests in monitoring inflammation by immunoassay determination of blood inflammatory
markers call for information on the stability of these markers in relation to the handling of blood
samples. The increasing use of stored biobank samples for such ventures that may have …Cited by 14 – Related articles – All 7 versions

P Thorsen, I Vogel, J Olsen… – Journal of Maternal …, 2006 – informahealthcare.com
Results. At enrolment, 13.7% had BV. BV was not associated with an increased risk of spontaneous
preterm birth (crude OR 0.8 (0.5–1.5)). Nulliparity was found to affect birth weight to such a degree
that this variable was used for stratification. In nulliparous women BV was associated with …Cited by 13 – Related articles – BL Direct – All 5 versions

P Thorsen, BR Møller… – Acta obstetricia et …, 1991 – informahealthcare.com
Semen specimens from 21 men with urethral infection with Chlamydia truchomutis were tested
for the presence of the organism before and after cryopreservation for 3 weeks of storage at –
196°C. Five specimens were chlamydia-positive before preservation and four of them …Cited by 11 – Related articles – All 5 versions

…, AT Jacobsen, H Madsen, P Thorsen… – Ugeskrift for …, 2001 – ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
INTRODUCTION: Urinary incontinence is a common problem for adult women, and the need
for assessment and treatment of incontinence is expected to increase in the future. The aim of
this study was to elucidate the general practitioners’ (GPs) knowledge about and attitude …Cited by 10 – Related articles – All 2 versions

…, JL Thomsen, T Ovesen, P Thorsen – … –Head and Neck …, 2007 – oto.sagepub.com… We were able to identify 380 (61.2%) of these children in the NHR. There was no
significant difference in the severity of hearing loss between the Copenhagen children
who were found in the NHR vs those who were not (P = 0.16). …Cited by 9 – Related articles – All 8 versions

R Menon, P Thorsen, I Vogel, B Jacobsson… – Placenta, 2007 – Elsevier
The objective of this study is to examine TNF-α and its soluble and membrane bound receptors
in fetal membranes derived from blacks and whites in response to in vitro infectious stimulus,
and the balance between TNF-α and the receptors. Fetal membranes collected from black …Cited by 10 – Related articles – All 8 versions

…, PL Thorsen – The High School Journal, 1985 – JSTOR
Both my wife Sandie and I (SPM) teach at a Christian liberal arts college. We both are ex- cited
about and revel in this vocational choice. However, it has placed us where we regularly deal
with the interaction between dogmatism on the one hand and developing a thoughtful …Cited by 8 – Related articles

HO Atladóttir, P Thorsen, L Østergaard… – Journal of autism and …, 2010 – Springer
Abstract Exposure to prenatal infection has been sug- gested to cause deficiencies in fetal
neurodevelopment. In this study we included all children born in Denmark from 1980, through
2005. Diagnoses of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and maternal infection were …Cited by 9 – Related articles – All 6 versions

…, BH Bech, J Olsen, P Thorsen – Paediatric and …, 2008 – Wiley Online Library
In a previous study, we found that infants transferred to a neonatal ward after delivery had an
almost twofold increased risk of being diagnosed with infantile autism later in childhood in spite
of extensive controlling of obstetric risk factors. We therefore decided to investigate other …Cited by 8 – Related articles – All 3 versions

[PDF] from au.dkI Vogel, P Thorsen, HH Hundborg… – European Journal of …, 2006 – Elsevier
In the women with a subsequent preterm delivery the relaxin level decreased by 0.9% per week
as compared to 1.9% per week (t-test, p = 0.004) in the women with term deliveries. From the
cohort the course of S-relaxin during pregnancy in both preterm and term deliveries were …Cited by 6 – Related articles – All 7 versions

H Alfredson, D Bjur, K Thorsen… – Journal of …, 2002 – Wiley Online Library
In this investigation the microdialysis technique was used to study the concentrations of lactate
in Achilles tendons with painful chronic tendinosis and in normal pain-free tendons. In four patients
(mean age 40.7 years) with a painful thickening localized at the 2-6 cni level in the …Cited by 63 – Related articles – All 6 versions

[PDF] from safeminds.org…, D Schendel, J Wohlfahrt, P Thorsen… – New England Journal …, 2002 – nejm.org
We conducted a retrospective cohort study of all children born in Denmark from January 1991
through December 1998. The cohort was selected on the basis of data from the Danish Civil
Registration System, which assigns a unique identification number to every live-born …Cited by 383 – Related articles – BL Direct – All 26 versions

[HTML] from oxfordjournals.org…, E Agerbo, D Schendel, P Thorsen… – American Journal of …, 2005 – Oxford Univ Press
Research suggests that heredity and early fetal development play a causal role in autism. This
case-control study explored the association between perinatal factors, parental psychiatric
history, socioeconomic status, and risk of autism. The study was nested within a cohort of …Cited by 182 – Related articles – All 15 versions

[PDF] from pkids.org…, MB Lauritsen, CB Pedersen, P Thorsen… – Pediatrics, 2003 – Am Acad Pediatrics
Objective. It has been suggested that thimerosal, a mercury-containing preservative in
vaccines, is a risk factor for the development of autism. We examined whether discontinuing
the use of thimerosal-containing vaccines in Denmark led to a decrease in the incidence …Cited by 148 – Related articles – BL Direct – All 33 versions

P Thorsen, IP Jensen, B Jeune, N Ebbesen… – American journal of …, 1998 – Elsevier
Attempts to identify infections in the lower genital tract in women as one of the causes of pathologic
pregnancy outcome have been made throughout several decades. Recently, efforts have been
concentrated on the condition of BV as described by Amsel et al. 5 The diagnostic criteria …Cited by 97 – Related articles – BL Direct – All 4 versions

…, A Schuchat, P Thorsen – Mental retardation and …, 2002 – Wiley Online Library
Cerebral palsy is the most common neuromotor developmental dis- ability of childhood, affecting
as many as 8,000 to 12,000 children born in the US each year (corresponding to a prevalence
rate of between 2 and 3 per 1000 children). Recent improvements in neonatal care have …Cited by 42 – Related articles – BL Direct – All 3 versions

…, S Dalsgaard, PH Thomsen, P Thorsen – Archives of Pediatrics …, 2007 – Am Med Assoc
You are seeing this message because your Web browser does not support basic Web
standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing and what you can do to make
your experience on this site better. … Add to CiteULike Add to Connotea Add to …Cited by 33 – Related articles – BL Direct – All 5 versions

…, B Jacobsson, C Svaerke, P Thorsen – Archives of Pediatrics …, 2009 – Am Med Assoc
You are seeing this message because your Web browser does not support basic Web
standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing and what you can do to make
your experience on this site better. … Add to CiteULike Add to Connotea Add to …Cited by 26 – Related articles – All 6 versions

MJ Silverberg, P Thorsen, H Lindeberg… – … – Head and Neck …, 2004 – Am Med Assoc
You are seeing this message because your Web browser does not support basic Web
standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing and what you can do to make
your experience on this site better. … Add to CiteULike Add to Connotea Add to …Cited by 23 – Related articles – BL Direct – All 3 versions

HO Atladottir, MG Pedersen, P Thorsen… – Pediatrics, 2009 – Am Acad Pediatrics
METHODS: The study cohort consisted of all of the children born in Denmark from 1993 through
2004 (689 196 children). Outcome data consisted of both inpatient and outpatient diagnoses
reported to the Danish National Psychiatric Registry. Information on ADs in parents and …Cited by 17 – Related articles – All 6 versions

…, DE Schendel, P Thorsen – Archives of Pediatrics and …, 2008 – Am Med Assoc
You are seeing this message because your Web browser does not support basic Web
standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing and what you can do to make
your experience on this site better. … Add to CiteULike Add to Connotea Add to …Cited by 14 – Related articles – All 4 versions

[PDF] from uniklinikum-jena.deK Skogstrand, CK Ekelund, P Thorsen… – Journal of …, 2008 – Elsevier
The interests in monitoring inflammation by immunoassay determination of blood inflammatory
markers call for information on the stability of these markers in relation to the handling of blood
samples. The increasing use of stored biobank samples for such ventures that may have …Cited by 14 – Related articles – All 7 versions

P Thorsen, I Vogel, J Olsen… – Journal of Maternal …, 2006 – informahealthcare.com
Results. At enrolment, 13.7% had BV. BV was not associated with an increased risk of spontaneous
preterm birth (crude OR 0.8 (0.5–1.5)). Nulliparity was found to affect birth weight to such a degree
that this variable was used for stratification. In nulliparous women BV was associated with …Cited by 13 – Related articles – BL Direct – All 5 versions

P Thorsen, BR Møller… – Acta obstetricia et …, 1991 – informahealthcare.com
Semen specimens from 21 men with urethral infection with Chlamydia truchomutis were tested
for the presence of the organism before and after cryopreservation for 3 weeks of storage at –
196°C. Five specimens were chlamydia-positive before preservation and four of them …Cited by 11 – Related articles – All 5 versions

R Menon, P Thorsen, I Vogel, B Jacobsson… – Placenta, 2007 – Elsevier
The objective of this study is to examine TNF-α and its soluble and membrane bound receptors
in fetal membranes derived from blacks and whites in response to in vitro infectious stimulus,
and the balance between TNF-α and the receptors. Fetal membranes collected from black …Cited by 10 – Related articles – All 8 versions

…, BH Bech, J Olsen, P Thorsen – Paediatric and …, 2008 – Wiley Online Library
In a previous study, we found that infants transferred to a neonatal ward after delivery had an
almost twofold increased risk of being diagnosed with infantile autism later in childhood in spite
of extensive controlling of obstetric risk factors. We therefore decided to investigate other …Cited by 8 – Related articles – All 3 versions

HO Atladóttir, P Thorsen, L Østergaard… – Journal of autism and …, 2010 – Springer
Abstract Exposure to prenatal infection has been sug- gested to cause deficiencies in fetal
neurodevelopment. In this study we included all children born in Denmark from 1980, through
2005. Diagnoses of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and maternal infection were …Cited by 9 – Related articles – All 6 versions

[PDF] from au.dkI Vogel, P Thorsen, HH Hundborg… – European Journal of …, 2006 – Elsevier
In the women with a subsequent preterm delivery the relaxin level decreased by 0.9% per week
as compared to 1.9% per week (t-test, p = 0.004) in the women with term deliveries. From the
cohort the course of S-relaxin during pregnancy in both preterm and term deliveries were …Cited by 6 – Related articles – All 7 versions

[PDF] from peerproject.euMV Hollegaard, P Thorsen… – …, 2009 – Wiley Online Library
Stored surplus of dried blood spot (DBS) samples from neonatal screening programs constitute
a vast potential for large genetic epidemiological studies. However, age of the samples and the
small amounts of DNA available may limit their usage. In this study we validate …Cited by 4 – Related articles – All 7 versions

…, P Uldall, E Ernst, B Jacobsson, P Thorsen – Human …, 2010 – ESHRE
RESULTS There were 33 139 (5.6%) children born in Denmark from 1995 to 2003 as a result
of assisted conception and through to June 2009, 1146 (0.19%) children received a CP
diagnosis. Children born after assisted conception had an increased risk of a CP …Cited by 3 – Related articles – All 8 versions

…, C Sværke, E Ernst, P Thorsen – … of Epidemiology and …, 2010 – jech.bmj.com
Contributors DH, PT and JG were responsible for conception and design. DH, JG and CS conducted
the statistical analyses and the interpretation of data. DH wrote the first draft of the
manuscript. All authors provided critical input at all stages and critically reviewed and …Cited by 2 – Related articles – All 2 versions

[CITATION] Time trends in the reported childhood diagnoses of neuropsychiatric disorders: a Danish cohort study